Historians and ABA leaders discuss the Magna Carta’s enduring legacy and the ABA’s plans to honor the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the great charter in 1215. The video was developed to recognize the ABA’s anniversary celebration June 11-14, 2015, in the United Kingdom, where the association erected a memorial to Magna Carta in 1957.

The House of Delegates adopts Resolution 112, urging legislative bodies and governmental agencies to significantly modify or refrain from enacting laws that eliminate the duty to retreat before using force in self-defense in public places.

The House of Delegates urges jurisdictions that impose capital punishment to promulgate execution protocols in a transparent manner. It also calls for public review and comment before final adoption of any execution protocol.

Resolution 108B was adopted at the 2015 Midyear Meeting session of the policy-making body.

House delegates pass resolution 108A, urging all governments that impose capital punishment to require unanimous decisions by juries before imposition of death-penalty sentences. Of the states, only Florida, Alabama and Delaware do not require unanimous verdicts in capital punishment cases. The resolution also covers military courts.

Resolution 108A was adopted at the 2015 Midyear Meeting session of the policy-making body.

Professor Stephen A. Saltzburg speaks in favor of resolution 107D during the 2015 Midyear Meeting session of the House of Delegates.

House delegates voted in favor of the measure, which adopts the black letter of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Prosecution Function and Defense Function, dated February 2015, to supplant the third edition (1993) of the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Prosecution Function and Defense Function.

The House of Delegates adopts resolution 107B, urging states to hold accountable those who unlawfully intimidate or tamper with victims. The resolution urges governments to adopt practices, procedures and training to ensure the integrity of criminal proceedings.

Resolution 107B was adopted at the 2015 Midyear Meeting session of the policy-making body.

President-Elect Nominee Linda A. Klein gave remarks to the House of Delegates during the 2015 Midyear Meeting in Houston. Klein lauded the courage and the direction in which President Hubbard is leading the ABA. “Working together is what the ABA does best,” she said, citing the association’s work with state, local and minority bars.

Rep. Brian K. Sims, the first out LGBT member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, is the former president of the board of directors of Equality Pennsylvania and former chair of Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Pennsylvania. He introduced a bill In the Pennsylvania State House to help reduce and eliminate the gender gap in pay as well as legislation to ban conversion therapy. In 2000, Sims came out to his Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania football team after helping to lead them to the Division II national championship game. A committed bipartisan, Sims seeks out collaborations between Democrats and Republicans.

Lise M. Iwon, a partner specializing in family law at Laurence & Iwon in Wakefield, R.I., was the first out lesbian president of the Rhode Island Bar Association, where she was instrumental in gaining the bar’s support for same-sex marriage prior to the state passing the Marriage Equality Act. In addition, as a litigant, Iwon sought and won a declaratory ruling that same-sex couples in Rhode Island who are married or joined in civil union are allowed to take the same marital deductions, for estate tax purposes, as married, different-sex couples.